{"id":1658,"date":"2013-04-05T16:38:49","date_gmt":"2013-04-05T16:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/?p=1658"},"modified":"2021-08-05T21:03:17","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T21:03:17","slug":"near-and-far-glai-and-glai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/thai\/near-and-far-glai-and-glai\/","title":{"rendered":"Near and Far, Glai and Glai"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before even reading this article, ask your Thai friend to say \u2018near and far\u2019 \u0e44\u0e01\u0e25\u0e41\u0e25\u0e30\u0e43\u0e01\u0e25\u0e49 in Thai. To most Thai language beginners these two words will sound exactly the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is it important to understand the pronunciation difference between \u2018near\u2019 and \u2018far\u2019? One day you\u2019ll find yourself asking if the trip to the beach from your Phuket hotel is a short or long walk. If you can\u2019t distinguish between the two, you may find yourself on a very long walk regretting not reading this article thoroughly . . .<\/span><\/p>\n

The difference between the two words is the tone: glai1 \u0e44\u0e01\u0e25 and glai3 \u0e43\u0e01\u0e25\u0e49. As the \u0e44- and \u0e43- make the same \u2018eye\u2019 sound, the mai-tow tone mark is what changes the tonal sound.<\/span><\/p>\n

note: My students always ask me what the difference between \u0e44- and \u0e43- is. There is none. I always tell them if I was the inventor of the Thai language, I wouldn\u2019t have invented two different characters for the same sound. But language evolution in general is very ad-hoc so it often doesn\u2019t make sense . . . The \u0e43- vowel is only used in a small handful of words, about ~20 actually. But . . . those words are extremely common! My students then sigh and trudge on.<\/span><\/p>\n

As it is understandably hard to remember which tone is used for which \u2018glai\u2019 word, I will share with you a mnemonic that I invented to remember back when I was a Thai language beginner myself. See the below image of a cannon firing a cannon ball. If the ball travels in a straight line and hence goes \u2018far\u2019, then it is a mid tone. If the ball falls and hence lands \u2018near\u2019, it is a falling tone.<\/span><\/p>\n

The following are a few example sentences to give you practice:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Is it far?<\/p>\n

Man1 glaai1 mai5<\/p>\n

\u0e21\u0e31\u0e19\u0e44\u0e01\u0e25\u0e44\u0e2b\u0e21?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nope, not far.<\/p>\n

Mai3 glaai1 rawk2<\/p>\n

\u0e44\u0e21\u0e48\u0e44\u0e01\u0e25\u0e2b\u0e23\u0e2d\u0e01<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My house is really close.<\/p>\n

Baan3 pom5 yuu2 glaai3 glaai3<\/p>\n

\u0e1a\u0e49\u0e32\u0e19\u0e1c\u0e21\u0e2d\u0e22\u0e39\u0e48\u0e43\u0e01\u0e25\u0e49\u0e46<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Really close together. (physically located not far apart)<\/p>\n

Yuu2 glaai3 glaai3 gan1<\/p>\n

\u0e2d\u0e22\u0e39\u0e48\u0e43\u0e01\u0e25\u0e49\u0e46\u0e01\u0e31\u0e19<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Below is a song that uses both glai1 and glai3 that you can use to practice. The song is called \u0e44\u0e01\u0e25\u0e41\u0e04\u0e48\u0e44\u0e2b\u0e19 \u0e04\u0e37\u0e2d \u0e43\u0e01\u0e25\u0e49<\/strong> which means \u2018however far away, it is close\u2019. For the more advanced\/ambitious learner, the song also has subtitles for most of it. Just pause the video to read and practice.<\/p>\n